Faculty Staff Union, Inc.

University of Massachusetts Boston

CONTRACT INFORMATION SHEET (BULLETED VERSION)

To All Deans, Department Chairs/Program Directors, and Administrative Assistants:

This checklist is designed to provide you with a brief summary of important information about the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the university and the FSU. It is intended to help primarily in your management of lecturers (non-tenure stream faculty). Please contact the FSU office with any questions. You can access a copy of the CBA from our website.

1)       Gap insurance for new tenure stream faculty: Newly hired tenure stream faculty members are eligible to partake in a program that would provide up to $500 per month for 2 months in the period between hire date and effective date of health insurance coverage. Contact Human Resources for more information on this program.

2)       Course assignment by priority lists for lecturers: Departments and programs are responsible for assigning courses to post-probationary lecturers according to a departmental course prioritization list (please note: the policy in regards to course prioritization lists was changed in the 07-08 CBA; for more info, see Article 21(B)). A separate priority list for CCDE courses must also be maintained. CCDE priority lists do not differentiate between tenure stream and non-tenure stream faculty.

3)       Health benefits for lecturers: Lecturers who are hired on a three-quarters time or full-time basis will be immediately eligible for benefits. Per-course lecturers may become eligible for benefits upon completion of a specific period of teaching (see the CBA for details on benefits eligibility). Lecturers must maintain a minimum half-time status each semester in order to retain benefited status for that semester. Lecturers who lose their benefits due to a less than half time appointment will regain benefits immediately upon a resumption of minimum half-time status. When a lecturer is in danger of losing his/her benefits due to a course reduction, the University will make its best effort to find alternative work to allow them to maintain their benefits status. If such a situation should arise, the appropriate personnel member should contact Human Resources for information on this program.

4)       Multi-year contracts for long term lecturers (the Senior Lecturer promotion): When a benefited lecturer has reached 10 years of service from hire date they will become eligible for promotion to Senior Lecturer which comes with a guaranteed, 2-3 year contract of minimum half-time work (see Article 21(B).13 of the CBA).

5)       Bargaining unit status of lecturers: All new lecturers, whether they are part-time or full-time, short-term or long-term, enter into the bargaining unit as soon as they are hired. That means that they are immediately covered by the terms of the collective bargaining agreement (including eligibility for all union negotiated pay raises) and have access to union representation for any labor related issues.

6)       Dues paying requirement for bargaining unit members: All members of the bargaining unit (regardless of FTE) are required to either pay dues or an agency fee to the union. Any new lecturer hired with questions about the union or dues should contact the FSU office directly (617.287-6295; fsu@umb.edu). Generally, members choose to pay dues via automatic deduction from their paychecks. The FSU can provide your department or program with payroll deduction forms for this purpose if you wish.